Archive for April 5th, 2010

The Commerce Department reported that consumer spending rose $34.7 billion or 0.3% in February, matching what economists had anticipated. Personal income increased $1.2 billion or less than 0.1%.

The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller 20-city housing price index rose a seasonally adjusted 0.3% in January. It was the eighth consecutive monthly gain and follows a 0.3% increase in December.

The consumer confidence index rose to 52.5 in March from a slightly revised 46.4 in February. Economists had anticipated a reading of 50. The index was benchmarked at 100 in 1985, a year chosen because it was neither a peak nor a trough in consumer confidence.

Factory orders rose 0.6% in February, slightly above the 0.5% increase economists had anticipated. It was the sixth straight gain and follows an upwardly revised 2.5% increase in January.

The Institute for Supply Management reported that the monthly index of manufacturing activity was 59.6 in March after reaching 56.5 in February. It was the eighth straight month of expansion and the best reading since July 2004. A reading above 50 signals expansion.

Total construction spending fell 1.3% to $846.23 billion in February. It was the lowest spending level since November 2002 and followed a 1.4% drop in January.

The unemployment rate held at 9.7% in March. However, employers added 162,000 jobs last month, the most since March 2007. For the week ending March 27, initial claims for unemployment benefits fell by 6,000 to 439,000. Continuing claims for the week ending March 20 fell by 6,000 to 4.6 million.

Upcoming on the economic calendar are reports on pending home sales on April 5, consumer credit on April 7 and wholesale trade on April 9.